The bodies of five members of a family have been found in their burnt-out home in western Switzerland, police said on Saturday, who suspect the father of shooting to death his wife and three daughters before killing himself . “After two days of intense investigations, the trail of the family drama is the hypothesis favored by the prosecutor in charge of the criminal investigation and the investigators”, declared the police of the Vaud region, in a press release.
The house, located in Yverdon-les-Bains, a town on the shores of Lake Neuchâtel in the canton of Vaud, was shaken early Thursday by a strong explosion, before being ravaged by flames. The bodies of the family members who lived there – the 45-year-old father, the 40-year-old mother and their three daughters aged 5, 9 and 13 – were found in the debris.
Probably gasoline in the rooms of the house
Each of the victims had bullet holes. “A weapon was found near the father who could be the author of the four other homicides before ending his life”, continues the police, which excludes for the time being “the intervention of a third party”. The origin of the fire could not be formally established but it was noted “the presence in the various rooms of the house of a large quantity of accelerant, potentially gasoline”, can we still read in the press release.